Slovakia, responding to requests from some fellow eurozone countries, has removed the halos from a €2 coin commemorating the 1,150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moravia.

Slovakia, aeurozonemember since 2009, will start circulating the coin next year to mark the arrival of Saints Cyril andMethodiusto Great Moravia andPanonia, which was part of modern Slovakia.

Eurozonecountries are allowed to mint commemorative coins once every year underEUrules. The image on the back of the commemorative coin, however, must be accepted by the remainingeurozonemembers and the European Commission.

Cyril andMethodiuswere brothers, born inThessaloniki at the beginning of the9thcentury, who created theGlagoliticand then the Cyrillic alphabets with the aim to have the Bible and other texts translated into Slavic languages [more].

Cyril died in 869 andMethodiusin 885. They were soon canonised as saints, with Saints Cyril andMethodius Day being celebrated on 24 May to mark the anniversary of Cyril’s death (see background).

Cyril andMethodiuswere also declared patrons of Europe in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. In Bulgaria, the onlyEUcountry at present to use the Cyrillic alphabet, 24 May is a public holiday, called “Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day”.

"UnderEUrules, when designing the national side of aeurocoin, Member States are required to take into account that the coins will circulate throughout the wholeeurozone, and in that context, proposed designs are shared in advance with other Member States so that they can provide any comments they deem appropriate," the Commission said in a statement.

The Commission acknowledged that some members states objected to the coin, adding that Slovakia submitted a slightly amended design, "which has now been approved by the [EU] Council of Ministers."

If the motivation of the unnamed member states was to remove religious symbols from the design, they did not entirely succeed. Cyril andMethodiushold a Christian double cross, standing on the middle peak of a mountain with three peaks.

The double cross and the three peaks are the main elements of the coat of arms of Slovakia and feature on the regular Slovakeurocoins.

The revamped design has been met with unease by the Bulgarian press. During Communism, painters and sculptors were requested by the authorities to portray Cyril andMethodiuswithout sanctity halos.

Background

In 862, the Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia requested that the Byzantine Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch Photius of Constantinople send missionaries to evengelise his Slavic subjects.

Cyril and Methodius were sent, having designed for the purpose the Glagolic alphabet, the first to be used in Slavonic manuscripts.

In 863 Cyril and Methodius began translating the bible in Old Church Slavonik and travelled to Great Moravia to promote it.

Later, Cyril and Methodius developed the Cyrillic alphabet, as a political project of Bulgarian king Boris, whose reign from 852 to 889 was marked by the Christianisation of Bulgarians.

Comments

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What nonsense! Why should we pander to the prejudices of atheists? Cyril and Methodius were monks and saints, it’s a matter of history,whether Tony Van der haegen agrees or not.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 12:01

@graham chambers: Yes they were monks. That’s it. Believing them to be saints is your (and others’) personal choice. This should not come across from coins.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 12:31

And they were saints also, declared as such by The Catholic Church, whereto a great deal of Slovakians and other Europeans (not everyone is anthropomorphic yet) still believe. Funny that the EU, started off by very pious Catholics has turned into a godless and devilish body.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 12:55

@Lee, the Catholic/Orthodox/etc church do not run the EU. Thankfully.
Requiring that the coins be neutral is simply a matter of courtesy to citizens of other beliefs.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 13:41

Hi Graham Chambers

Religion and State should be two separate issues. I do not seem to be the only one to have some objections against the presence of halos on the two € Slovakian coin since some states asked that the halos be removed.
I fully respect religion beliefs but let them be a private issue. And I expect you also to respect my own beliefs.

Tony Van der haegen

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 13:55

I do respect other’s beliefs (or non-beliefs) as long as they do not try to foist them on others. It is a historical fact that Cyril and Methodius were declared Saints by the Catholic Church. If you don’t believe in Saints, then it doesn’t matter to you (or does it?) I do not happen to believe in the religious aspect of Sainthood, I regard it as simply a title. I am not going to deny someone’s title as a Nobel Prize Winner because I don’t believe in Nobel Prizes, nor am I going to deny the President of the United… Read more »

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 14:37

@graham chambers.
Art.10 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights clearly states that having no religion is also a belief. And it is not an easy one. Re foisting beliefs on others, I have the feeling that the wind blows more from your corner than mine.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 15:29

On which webpage can be found the document of Council denying this?

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 16:01

I don’t know. EurActif is usually well informed. Ask them.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 16:01

I don’t know. EurActif is usually well informed. Ask them.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 16:54

I find this to be a perfectly sensible compromise. These two guys were important historical figures not only on Slovakia but in other slavic nations as well, where they made a substantial cultural impact. As such it’s appropriate to have them on the coins with a double cross as a symbol of the purpose of their work, which is a matter of historical record.

As for the saint halo; this is a matter of religion, and if the catholic church wants to mint commemorative coins, it is free to do so. The vatican mints it’s own euro coins after all.

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Anonymous

21/11/2012 16:54

Iconography, do you know this word?

Let’s just make a law which says that every human figure represented on coins should wear contemporary formal wear….

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Anonymous

22/11/2012 10:58

We (Slovaks) have a double cross in our coat of arms, which is depicted on our one and two euro coins. Should we remove it as well to avoid any religious reference?

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Anonymous

22/11/2012 11:18

Ah – so the EU dream comes to reality, the realisation that the nation state needs permission from Brussels for every little piece of legislation. The birth of a new nation of eurosceptics comes closer…

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Anonymous

22/11/2012 12:48

@Edward,

I should not bother. Brainwashed as your are by your tabloids, you will soon leave the EU. Bon débarras as the French say. But on your side you’ll loose Scotland.

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Anonymous

22/11/2012 17:15

Tony – Scots dislike the EU as much as the English, ask them what the EU did to their fishing industry. And with their oil, they will not need to hand over huge sums to the EU and in return be expected to be grateful when a small percentage comes back in the form of Brussels sanctioned project funds. Qu’ils s’en debarassent de l’UE as the French say.

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Anonymous

23/11/2012 15:19

@Dan, nobody is debating that those two churches run Europe ! However, the fabric, foundations and structures of Europe are thoroughly Christian and should reflect as such. I never realised that countries also got dictated to what they should put on their designs, especially as new entrants into the EU have, since 1999 and on convergence of their economies and systems with EU standards, been forced to join the Euro. Seriously, Europe without its Christian heritage is like China without Confucius. The Modernism and Post-Modernism is reaping an ugly state of affairs.

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Anonymous

23/11/2012 15:33

@Lee

your response to Dan is correct, but you should have added that one of our inheritances is also Enlightment. Our European societies are a mix of religious and enlightment inheritance. The preamble of the treaty of Lisbon rightly states that:” Drawing inspiration from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe,from which have developed the universal values of the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law”

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Anonymous

23/11/2012 15:33

@Lee

your response to Dan is correct, but you should have added that one of our inheritances is also Enlightment. Our European societies are a mix of religious and enlightment inheritance. The preamble of the treaty of Lisbon rightly states that:” Drawing inspiration from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe,from which have developed the universal values of the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law”

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Anonymous

23/11/2012 22:10

@Tony, definitely, the Enlightenment is a sorts of heritage but I would argue that the produce of the ‘Enlightenment’ has led to the absolute anent. The French Revolution, being the brainchild of the anthropomorphic exercise into feeding man’s ego ‘mainly’ (not all, as some religious contemporaries might think) has given us a thoroughly materialistic and skewed view of ‘truths’ and wrongs down to the level that everything is relative and thus, whether of importance or not, things like Christian Heritage of Europe is to be disposed of because it fitteth not into the ‘Novus Ordo’ of Europe. Those right you… Read more »